Heretics

Index

In Our Own Words

"It has never been proven that Chaos cultists are anything more than the product of the fevered imaginings of certain of the more zealous Witch Hunters. Why they have to go on and on about 'corruption from within' and 'debased orgiastic sects of the Lord of Pleasure' when the real danger is the Marauders of the north, I'll never know. I ask you, what motivation could these successful merchants, nobles, and scholars have for allying with Chaos, when they already hold positions of such eminence within the Empire? It would be like a queen bee poisoning her own hive."

— Albrecht Kinear, Professor Emeritus at the University of Nuln, speaking at a commission to advise the Elector Count of Nuln on the threat of Chaos

"What man of Miklgardr has ever paid a toll to sail the seas? We are pirates. We are Norscan. We are the wolves of the sea, and everything in the sea is our prey. You are our prey."

— Dalla Ulfarsdottir, Norse Shieldmaiden

"What choice did I have? I would be a loyal son of the Empire yet, had my hand not begun to change. I did nothing to make it occur. I read no proscribed books. I learned no profane rituals. I followed by teachers' instructions to the letter, and still I changed. Could I go to my professors and tell them my plight? Could I ask for mercy at the Temple of Sigmar? No. The only mercy the Empire gives its twisted children is the axe. What could I do? I wanted to live. I did not want my great mind to go to waste merely because one of my limbs had betrayed me."

— Magus Lichtmann, Warlock Engineer

"Is it so wrong to want to be on the winning side? Year by year the Beastmen grow bolder and the Marauders stronger. Year by year there are more Mutants, and worse, within the borders of the Empire. The Emperor is fighting a losing battle. I am a pragmatist first and foremost; the Empire has made me rich, but Chaos will help me to survive when Middenheim is in flames and its people are food for Beastmen or sacrifices to the Blood God. Survive and even prosper. The Master of Fortune is good to those who revere him."

"Horrified at the fate of their companion, the remaining adventurers chastised the daemon, who replied that they should simply be more specific in their wish-making."

— Mishka Levkov, Tomb Robber

"As for the infant, it might grow up more quickly than an ordinary child. Some of them do. Anyway, altering folk is worthwhile for its own sake. You might even say it's a sacrement."

— 'Mama' Solveig Weiss, Healer, Midwife & Heretic

Scholar's View

"There was a time, before your affliction, when you knew quite a bit about everyone in Miragliano. But perhaps the rot has crawled into your brain as well as your hand."

— Brunner the Bounty Hunter

"He who is touched by Chaos, may harm Chaos... but must always beware, lest he become the instrument of Chaos instead of its destroyer."

— Astyanax, Tilean Enchanter

"Kill the corrupted. They're beyond saving. Do it now, or we all die!"

— Jakob Wolff, Warrior-Priest of Sigmar

"This symbol is agony to you. Much more than the burning. For such as you, the very presence of holiness is pain. You deserve nothing less."

— Annika Bohringer, Witch Hunter

"The cults of our blessed Empire often act as frightened vengeful children, squabbling amongst themselves. Yet, we forget that while we fight each other, the forces of Chaos and its minions wait to take us all by surprise."

— Avemar Teinhoff of Carroburg, Celestial Magister of the Celestial Order

"Whatever has put the taint on them, their fate is still the same. Heretics burn."

— Inquisitor Gualtiero Bocca, Solkanite War-priest

"You have tormented me more than you know with your elaborate account of these forces of Chaos which threaten the world in so many different ways, and to which my own brother sold his soul."

"Albrecht Kinear, former Professor of the University of Nuln, this court finds you guilty of trafficking with Daemons amd selling your soul to Chaos. You profaned the high office and renown with which you were entrusted when you joined the Silver Wheel society here in Nuln, and you compounded our damnation when you steeped yourself so thoroughly in its dark and sorcerous teachings as to be made its leader. Your already unforgiveable crimes are made still worse by your continual deliberate misdirection of legitimate authority with your false pronouncements on Chaos and many another matter. Gunther, Hans—take him outside and burn him. Now."

— Vorster Pike, Witch Hunter, speaking at the commission to advise the Elector of Nuln on the threat of ChaosAlbrecht of Nuln, was burned at the stake 1301 IC for pernicious declamation.

"There are gods of wrath and horror, whose domain in growing in the world of men. The cause is terror, for when men see evil in the world, and fear it will claim them, their courage often fails, and they try to placate the force of evil instead of standing against them."

— Orfeo, Bretonnian Minstrel, recounting a warning of the Chaos threat ministered by the Morrian Father Superior of the Border Princedom of Aldium, in the Khyprian empire

"They have raped and pillaged the coasts of the Old World for centuries, putting towns and temples alike to the sword. They are a treacherous people, brother. Daemon-ridden and corrupt. They bathe in foetid pools that glow in night, and make offerings to twisted idols. They venerate the mutant, the beastman and the marauder. They are not worthy of your blood or your sacrifice."

After hauling my bony butt from the comfort of my quilted coffin, I met up with Frogprince and Geekgirl before beginning our expedition to attend this prestigious trade show widely considered to be a calendar highlight for everybody in the wargaming industry.

Aside from Black Library Live last month it is the first event I've attended in a long time. It is the first trade fair event of its kind I have ever been to. I have not made it to a Games Day since the 1990's. UK Gen-Con is an event which I have participated in maybe as recently as 7 or 8 years ago, but assuredly none of these experiences has been quite like Salute. Funnily enough Black Library was present. As were a myriad of British merchants and manufacturers from around Europe.

Our product exploration was a spur of the moment decision. I have known of the event for quite some time and always fancied going. An old friend of mine and his fiancee said they fancied it too so off we went!

One of the big attractions at an event like Salute is new releases. There are a number of exclusive items available for the first time on the day. Some manufacturers go so far as selling items that have been produced exclusively for the show. I should have liked to mention something of it in advance as a few folk have since indicated they'd have liked a few exclusive show items if we had been able to pick them up. One to consider for next time.

The organisation of online sales for retailers is questionable! Some have what I consider poor web pages or site that are unfriendly to navigate. I spoke to a couple of companies who either admitted to having no web presence or they had poor web sites. There were too many flyers being handed out. One flyer was for Citadel components and the company name was Bits Box who (in their own words) don't have much stock right now. Time wasters! They don't have a webstore being as this was a different firm to Bitz Box who do have a great web site and periodically update their stock.

What was brilliant about Salute was viewing all the magnificent stuff close-up for real and wrestling with decisions over what to buy and whether to buy it or not. For instance I went to one trade-stand with the intention of making a purchase, then ended up being blown away by another tradestand ran by some very talented Polish guys. Micro Art Studio make bases that are so characterful that they stand a bloody good chance of upstaging the miniatures that you would be sticking on to them! I picked up some samples to work with for my upcoming gang projects from their Battle Bases range. Browsing through their online store I am now being tempted to order some graveyard themed bases in addition to these wood-planked ones. While at the stand I even joked to MAS staff that we could try fighting opponents using just these attractive bases with no warriors on them!

For sure there is a varying amount of (crap!) detail on a number of these Micro Art Studio bases. They are open to a lot of interpretation when being painted. For instance there is a futile amount of effort that has gone in to painting the bases which were on display at the show. It does not help buyers that there are no miniatures planted on them because that leaves zero impression of their end value. That is stupid guys, really stupid!

We didn't attend the show for any of the games being ran. A few hard-sellers were cajoling me to invest time on games demos and part with my gold crowns on their products but nothing new has peeked my interest in that sense. There are trillions of games in the market to investigate and a lot of interesting ideas. Convention marketplaces and online shopping trends have loosened the hold of the ivory tower presence Games Workshop commands from the high street. The gaming giant has to perform like never before to maintain its market share with serious contenders chomping at the bit.

There were a couple of marvelously sculpted ranges of pirate miniatures featuring tasty tricorn-hatted femme fatales and swashbuckling freebooters from Black Scorpion and Freebooter miniatures respectively. Unfortunately a lot of these high fantasy products come across as being too cheesy for my gritty tastes, and by that I mean fantasy formats where comedic license fails to balance itself. A lot of the work I saw was cute. It lacked in edge.

I did bear witness to camaraderie between artists when one miniature designer stood present 'swapping' his latest releases with the staff on another traders stand! That was a cool moment from the event.

The contrast between real and unreal factions at Salute really stretches the brain. Alongside established historical publications are a mind-boggling array of fantastical realms to keep up with. Weird looking creatures packaged in boxes or blister-packs fill the many racks of vendors. Menageries of strange imaginary beasts being referred to by differing titles, some worryingly familiar, some not at all. We failed to find any Fimir and there was a zero count on Werelions.

While there were a number of really impressive historical gaming set ups, I was not awestruck by any of them. Certainly not after reading reports from European events such as my co-conspirator Cianty's experience at Hamburger Tactica 2011. You can see read his report here.

There was a severe lack of decent terrain on sale of any kind. While disappointing this saved me a lot of money. I have already amassed a quantity of custom built scenery on top of cobbling together some of my own items for my Marienburg adventure. Maritime accessories were few and far between. Between the crest of the waves I did spot some handy looking crates and grain sacks to decorate a wharf on Luydenhoek Isle.

Ultimately, my existing back log is wicked enough that I resisted the urge to go crazy around Salute snapping up all the shiny releases I liked the look of from a few of what I considered the best quality producers. Acting on impulse I did walk away with the new Marienburg Land Ship though. Frogprince eventually bagged himself the Chaos Dwarf Hellsmith after braving the horrible queues in the mad scrum which signifies the arrival of Forgeworld.